What’s the “Natural” Human Diet?
What can our nutrient requirements, metabolism, and physiology tell us about what we should be eating?
What can our nutrient requirements, metabolism, and physiology tell us about what we should be eating?
Despite less education on average, a higher poverty rate, and more limited access to health care, U.S. Hispanics tend to live the longest. Why?
A salted meal can impair artery function within 30 minutes by suppressing a key detoxifying antioxidant enzyme in our body.
Vegetables and fruit, such as dried plums, may help build stronger bones.
How extreme was Dr. Kempner’s rice diet compared to traditional surgical approaches? Is there a safer alternative?
We don’t have to choose between the lesser of two evils: skin cancer versus internal cancers from vitamin D deficiency.
Might appeals to masculinity and manhood help men with prostate cancer change their diet to improve their survival?
Inadequate consumption of prebiotics—the fiber and resistant starch concentrated in unprocessed plant foods—can cause a disease-promoting imbalance in our gut microbiome.
What happens when brown rice is put to the test in a randomized controlled crossover trial?
How the food, drug, and supplement industries have taken advantage of the field of nutrition’s reductionist mindset
Our physiology evolved for millions of years eating a plant-based diet. What would happen if researchers tried to recreate our ancestral diet in the lab?
Avoid sugary and cholesterol-laden foods to reduce the risk of our most common cause of chronic liver disease.
The reason eating citrus fruits appears to protect against cancer may be because of DNA repair enzyme-boosting powers of a compound concentrated in the peel.
Every hour, there are 800 incidents of DNA damage in our bodies. Which foods help us patch back up: apples, broccoli, celery, choy sum, lemons, lettuce, oranges, persimmons, or strawberries?
Before drugs came along, the consumption of vinegar with meals was used as a folk remedy for diabetes, but it wasn’t put to the test until recently.
Sprinkling vinegar on greens may augment their ability to improve endothelial function.
Dietary diversity is important because each plant family has a unique combination of phytonutrients that may bind to specific proteins within our body.
Plant-based diets have been shown to slow or stop the progression of kidney failure, but what about all the phosphorus and potassium in plant foods?
If copper is associated with Alzheimer’s disease, what about healthy, whole plant food sources such as nuts, seeds, beans, and whole grains?
Even when study subjects were required to eat so much that they didn’t lose any weight, a plant-based diet could still reverse type 2 diabetes in a matter of weeks.
Type 2 diabetes can be reversed with severe calorie restriction—whether by surgery or starvation—but did you know it can also be reversed simply by eating healthier?
Certain foods are linked not only to increased happiness, but also to greater “eudaemonic” well-being—feelings of engagement, creativity, meaning, and purpose in life.
Ancient dietary practices based on analyzing the fiber content of fossilized human waste can give us insights for combating the modern obesity epidemic.
Vegetables tested head-to-head to see which boosts immune function best.
What can we eat to combat “inflamm-aging,” the chronic low-grade inflammation that accompanies the aging process?
Eating antioxidant-rich foods can bolster skin protection and reduce sunburn redness by 40%, whereas alcohol can dramatically drop the level of antioxidants in the skin within 8 minutes of consumption.
Dietary Acid Load is determined by the balance of acid-inducing food, such as meats, eggs, and cheeses, offset by base-inducing (“alkaline”) foods, such as fruits and vegetables.
Fennel seeds can work as effectively as drugs like ibuprofen for painful periods, and an eighth of a teaspoon of ginger powder three times a day can cut menstrual bleeding in half.
The concept that heart disease was rare among the Eskimos appears to be a myth.
Rather than reformulate their products with less sodium and save lives, food manufacturers have lobbied governments, refused to cooperate, encouraged misinformation campaigns, and tried to discredit the evidence.
Energy density explains how a study can show participants lose an average of 17 pounds within 21 days while eating a greater quantity of food.
The extraordinarily low rates of chronic disease among plant-based populations have been attributed to fiber, but reductionist thinking may lead us astray.
A guideline is suggested for how to read food labels for grain products such as bread and breakfast cereals.
What happens to our gut flora microbiome when we’re on plant-based versus animal-based diets?
Diet and lifestyle improvements started even late in life can offer dramatic benefits.
The whole food is greater than the sum of its parts: how unscrupulous marketers use evidence that ties high blood levels of phytonutrients with superior health to sell dietary supplements that may do more harm than good.
When placed head-to-head against the American Diabetes Association diet, how do plant-based diets fare in terms of not only blood sugar, body weight, and cholesterol control, but also mood and quality of life?
What happens inside the arteries going to the hearts and brains of those who add nuts or extra virgin olive oil to their diet?
Compared to bananas, does eating kiwifruit decrease the incidence and severity of upper respiratory tract infections?
What would happen if you centered your diet around vegetables, the most nutrient-dense food group?